Credit bureau TransUnion's shares rise in debut

(Reuters) - Shares of credit bureau TransUnion (TRU.N) rose as much as 10 percent in their debut, valuing the company at about $4.5 billion.

TransUnion Corp. President and CEO Jim Peck rings a ceremonial bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the company's IPO in New York, June 25, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

TransUnion provides a number of information services for businesses and consumers such as consumer credit reports, risk scores and analytical services.

The stock market listing comes three years after private equity firm Advent International and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) agreed to buy the company from Madison Dearborn Partners and the Pritzker family.

Following the IPO, both Advent and Goldman will continue to own more than 80 percent of the company.

The company’s shares rose as much as 11.7 percent to a high of $25.14. TransUnion raised $664.8 million after the 29.5-million-share offering was priced at $22.50 per share.

The company, which claims to possess over 30 petabytes of data, owns databases such as consumer credit information, driver violation history, healthcare eligibility information, business data and rental payment history.

Global spending on big data and analytics services is expected to grow about 15 percent to about $52 billion between 2014 and 2018, the company said, citing research firm IDC.

TransUnion, formed in 1968 as a holding company for railroad leasing organization Union Tank Car Co, operates in over 30 countries.

The company counts some of the biggest banks, credit card issuers, auto-lenders, healthcare providers and U.S. government agencies as customers, and competes with credit agencies Equifax Inc (EFX.N) and Experian PLC (EXPN.L).

Goldman Sachs & Co, JPMorgan Securities LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc were among the underwriters for the offering.

Reporting By Sudarshan Varadhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty